Silicon Insider: A Theory of Everything?

May 28 -- Care to get involved in the first great scientific debate of the new millennium? The good news is that you don't even have to know much about science to play.

You can start with the new book A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram. In case you didn't notice, it shot to No. 1 book on Amazon.com earlier this month. No bookstore best seller, that performance was the result of huge pent up demand, with many anxious readers having waited as much as five years for its publication.

Already, there's been a burst of stories about it in the New York Times and other publications. And you'll see a lot more in the weeks ahead. As it happens, I got the scoop on this story two years ago, with a long cover story in Forbes ASAP, one of those lucky breaks that comes from a unique confluence of events that a reporter gets two or three times in a career.

Wolfram, you see, isn't just an acknowledged genius in mathematics and physics, but also a successful entrepreneur. After having helped invent chaos theory, he grew frustrated with the academic life and set out to become a businessman. He developed a software program, the first to allow complex mathematics on the PC, and set out to market it under the name Mathematica.

Back then, as a hungry, out-of-work newspaperman, I helped Wolfram introduce Mathematica, which went on to become one of the most successful personal computer application programs of all time.

Mathematica also made Wolfram a rich man. But he soon grew bored with the process and, unbeknownst to the outside world, for nearly a decade he worked all night, every night, in the attic office of his executive home, puzzling out a new mathematical theory with awesome implications.

Wolfram’s Theory — Greatness or Delusion?

Wolfram seemed like one more great mind lost from research into the more lucrative world of commerce. Except for a few scientist friends, no one knew about his secret, other life … except for one man — the editor whom Wolfram approached to publish his magnum opus once it was completed.